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# Stop Calling It Cloud Storage: Backup Attack Resistance
- URL: https://blog.stratum.my/ransomware-proof-offsite-backups-apac/
- Published: 2026-10-01T15:43:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T15:43:35.000Z
- Description: Offsite backups in APAC often lack true air‑gap, immutability and recoverability, leaving them exposed to ransomware. Veeam Vault offers a managed, logically air‑gapped, immutable storage service that meets regulatory demands and real‑world needs.
- Author: JW
- Tags: backup, ransomware, APAC, cloud storage, Veeam Vault

In the Asia Pacific, organisations that rely on offsite backups are facing a hidden weakness that ransomware groups are exploiting. The region’s rapid cloud adoption has created a false sense of safety, yet many backup repositories lack true isolation, immutability and guaranteed recoverability.

## Why traditional offsite backups fall short

A 2025 ransomware report from Veeam found that **89 % of organisations hit by ransomware had their backup repositories targeted**. Even more concerning, **only 32 % of those organisations used repositories configured as immutable**. Without immutability, an attacker who gains access to a backup store can encrypt or delete the very copies meant to restore operations.

## Regulatory pressure is rising

Regulators in the region are tightening the rules around backup protection. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) now expects entities to **maintain sufficient isolation of backups from the production environment and to prevent any single account from having permission to modify or delete both**. Similarly, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) requires **half‑yearly testing that backup data can be recovered without loss, a near‑zero recovery point objective (RPO) and a disaster‑recovery (DR) facility in a different seismic zone**. Failure to meet these standards can result in penalties and loss of licence.

## Real‑world incidents underline the risk

In June 2024, an Indonesian national data centre disclosed that **98 % of the data in one facility had no backup at all** because backup was an optional, chargeable add‑on that agencies declined on budget grounds. The incident left critical public‑sector data exposed and highlighted how cost‑driven decisions can undermine resilience.

![Close-up view of modern rack-mounted server units in a data center.](https://images.pexels.com/photos/17489152/pexels-photo-17489152.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&h=650&w=940)

*Photo by* [*panumas nikhomkhai*](https://www.pexels.com/@cookiecutter?ref=blog.stratum.my) *on Pexels*

## A managed solution that meets the gap

Veeam Vault is a **Veeam‑managed storage service that is logically air‑gapped from the customer environment**. Backups land in a write‑once, read‑many state by default; **immutability cannot be switched off and no administrator, script or root‑level user can alter or delete data before its retention period expires**. The service is available in **50 + regions across 27 countries on Azure and AWS, including 22 regions in Asia Pacific and Japan** such as Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

### Extending protection to long‑term retention

Veeam Vault Archive builds on the same immutable, air‑gapped model for **long‑term retention**, allowing organisations to keep compliance‑grade archives without sacrificing security.

## Customer success story

Premier Bank PLC in Bangladesh switched to immutable, encrypted, air‑gapped storage and **cut recovery time objectives by 65 % while reducing backup‑management effort by 75 %**. The bank cites the same features that Veeam Vault provides as the cornerstone of its ransomware mitigation strategy.

![An IT professional operates a computer in a server room, managing network systems and connected devices.](https://images.pexels.com/photos/37605911/pexels-photo-37605911.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&h=650&w=940)

*Photo by* [*panumas nikhomkhai*](https://www.pexels.com/@cookiecutter?ref=blog.stratum.my) *on Pexels*

## What to check in your own environment

- **Is your backup repository immutable?** Verify that write‑once policies are enforced and cannot be overridden.
- **Are backups isolated from production systems?** Ensure that no single account can modify both production and backup data.
- **Do you meet regulator‑defined RPO and DR location requirements?** Test recovery half‑yearly and confirm a geographically separate DR site.
- **Is long‑term retention protected by the same controls?** Look for solutions that extend immutability beyond the primary retention window.

## Terms used in this article

- **Air‑gap**, a security measure that physically or logically separates a system from networks that could be compromised.
- **Immutable**, data that cannot be altered or deleted once written, often enforced by write‑once policies.
- **Recovery point objective (RPO)**, the maximum age of files that must be recovered after a failure.
- **Disaster‑recovery (DR) facility**, a secondary site used to restore operations after a catastrophic event.
- **APRA**, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the regulator for financial institutions in Australia.
- **RBI**, Reserve Bank of India, the central banking institution that issues cyber‑resilience guidelines.

By treating offsite backups as a critical line of defence rather than an after‑thought, organisations can close the gap that ransomware actors are exploiting today.